Transformation is the Therapy: Rewriting Life After Concussion with Kevin Donahue | E39 - Life After Impact: The Concussion Recovery Podcast

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
But if you don't know and other people don't know
you're injured, they can't helpyou.
So I got very active in tellingpeople.
I'd go to dinners, you know,because I did I stopped
isolating, but everywhere I'dgo, I'd tell people, hey, just
so you know, I had a braininjury.
I was in a motorcycle accidentin Ecuador, you know, a few
weeks ago.
I'm okay, but I just want you toknow I'm suffering from a

(00:21):
concussion and post-concussionsyndrome.
Uh, if I need to step up andleave, it's not you, it's me.
I'm just dealing with somethings in my brain injury that,
you know, you couldn't quiteunderstand right now.
Like, oh my God, thank you fortelling me.
By the way, I know someone at uhBarrows Neurological Institute.
You should talk to them.
Oh, I have a friend who doesthis.
And all of a sudden, these doorsstarted opening because I was

(00:44):
willing to share.

SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
Welcome to Life After Impact, the Concussion
Recovery Podcast.
I'm Dr.
Ayla Wolf, and I will be hostingtoday's episode where we help
you navigate the oftenconfusing, frustrating, and
overwhelming journey ofconcussion and brain injury
recovery.
This podcast is your go-toresource for actionable
information, whether you'redealing with a recent

(01:06):
concussion, struggling withpost-concussion syndrome, or
just feeling stuck in yourhealing process.
In each episode, we dive deepinto the symptoms, testing,
treatments, and neurologicalinsights that can help you move
forward with clarity andconfidence.
We bring you leading experts inthe world of brain health,
functional neurology, andrehabilitation to share their

(01:28):
wisdom and strategies.
So if you're feeling lost,hopeless, or like no one
understands what you're goingthrough, know that you are not
alone.
This podcast can be your guideand partner in recovery, helping
you build a better life afterimpact.
Kevin Donahue, welcome to LifeAfter Impact, the Concussion

(01:51):
Recovery Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (01:52):
Hey, Ayla, thanks for having me.
I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 (01:55):
Absolutely.
So you are an entrepreneur, anadventurer, a father, a husband,
and a concussion survivor.
You wrote a book in 2016.
It's called ConcussionTransformation: Overcoming the
Number One Silent Secret Killerof Relationships, Careers, and
Lives.
And you have an incredible lifeand career and relationships.

(02:19):
So I think there's probably alot that you have to say about
your journey and how you how youtransformed your life after
having a pretty severeconcussion.

SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Yeah, for sure.
Uh, you know, I guess I'll startwhere it all happened.
Uh, you know, I was in travelingin South America.
I was in Ecuador, in a littlesurf town just north of uh of uh
Guayaquil called Montanita.
And uh I was down there over theChristmas holiday, New Year
holiday with a friend, and youknow, we're trying to catch some

(02:49):
waves, enjoy South America, theculture, everything.
And it was choppy waves thatday, so we couldn't paddle out.
So we decided to rent theselittle hundredcc off-road
minibikes, you know, good idea.
Uh and so we rented them and wewere just gonna go cruise up the
coastal highway, enjoy somescenery, and we had helmets on
and everything.
And as we were going up thecoastal highway, there was a box

(03:10):
truck, and he was making what itseemed like a left, but he was
going left to make a widerright.
Oh, okay.
And I was gonna I sped up to goaround him on the right, and
there I was, braking face toface, headfirst, into the
passenger side of this boxtruck, right?
And then he ran over themotorcycle.

(03:31):
And, you know, in Ecuador,there's not a 911 system.
There you are, right?
Like I had soft tissue damage uhabove my left elbow.
That's what really hurt.
I thought I had broken my arm.
Um, and I didn't realize I had abrain injury.
You know, I had a helmet on.
Everyone thinks a helmetprotects you.
Um, and so there I was laying uhon this coastal highway on the

(03:54):
side of the road, and the trucklooked down and they just took
off, you know?
And luckily I had a friend withme, and you know, he didn't
speak Spanish, but I did.
And so I said, hey, there was astore, like a little shop across
the street.
I said, Go get go get some yalo,ask them for yalo ice.
I really thought I broke my arm,and I actually laid there on the
side of the road and prayed, youknow.
Like uh, we did find like areally rudimentary hospital down

(04:17):
there and got an x-ray andeverything was okay.
But of course, you know, this iswhat happens in automobile
accidents, car accidents, falls.
People will fix the broken hand,the broken foot, the broken leg,
the broken arm, and they neverconsider that you might have a
brain injury.
I didn't consider it at all.
And so, you know, there I was.
Uh, this was December 28th,2012, when this happened.

(04:40):
And, you know, New Year'sholiday was coming up, and I was
like, okay, uh, we so we droveback on his motor scooter and we
got went to the motor scootershop, and they came back and
picked up the bike, and the, youknow, the wheel had been bent,
had to pay a few bucks, and youknow, okay, vacation goes on.
I'm okay, you know, I have aninjured arm, but that's it.
I actually I actually paddledout to surf the next day.

(05:02):
That's how committed I was.
Like, I can because I thoughtabout uh Bethany uh Hamilton,
her name is the girl who got herarm bitten off.
Like I said, if she can surf, socan I, you know, if she can surf
one arm, so can I.
So I gave it a shot, but I justwasn't feeling right.
And then uh New Year's Eve cameby.
I woke up New Year's Day and Iwas angry.
I woke up about 4 or 5 a.m.

(05:24):
and I was so angry.
I couldn't figure out what wasgoing on.
I was mad at the guy I was with.
I was mad, I would have been madat you.
I was just angry.
I said, I gotta get the hell outof here.
And so I found a local bus and Iwent straight to the airport at
Guayaquil.
And at the airport, I booked aflight to uh to Miami.
And I was like, I gotta get awayfrom these people.
And it was so crazy because I,you know, you'd think you'd know

(05:46):
you have a brain injury, but younever do.
The problem with the braininjury, as you know, and maybe
some of your audience knows, ormaybe they don't, is you can't
feel it and you can't see it.
And we'll get more into that uhas we go along.
But there I was.
I in fact, I got off the bus andI started walking towards the
airport uh because the bus depotwas right next to the airport,
and I got halfway to theairport.

(06:08):
I'm like, oh my gosh, I forgotmy luggage.
Like, what is wrong with me?
You know?
And so I went back, grabbed myluggage.
Thankfully it was still there,and I got to the airport and I
just sat there.
You know, I was just so angry,so angry, so angry.
And um, anyway, I flew intoMiami.
I met with a friend there, anduh we went to the monkey jungle,
had some dinner or whatever.

(06:29):
And then, like, I was living inScottsdale, Arizona at the time.
And I was gonna fly back toScottsdale, but something in my
heart told me, go home.
You know, and sometimes it'simportant to listen to our
intuition, you know, and I and Ithink something was calling me
home to be with my mother,right?
With be with my family.
Whatever was going on with me, Isaid, I need to be around loved

(06:49):
ones.
And I flew home to Virginia.
My parents lived outsideWashington, D.C.
And for four days I was ill,like very, very sick, fever,
couldn't get up.
I was sleeping all day long.
I had my little nephews tryingto play with them.
I couldn't do it.
And I was like, man, maybe Ijust caught something down in
Ecuador, right?
I don't know, who knows?

(07:10):
And uh, and it was a mess, youknow, and I still didn't
consider my uh my brain injuryat all.
Flew back to Scottsdale, maybefive days later, and you know, I
just started spiraling into thisdepression.
You know, I'd walk my dog atnight, I'd start crying for no
reason, completely inappropriateemotional reaction to life
situations.

(07:31):
Uh I get angry, I couldn'tfocus, you know, I would try to
get back to work.
It would take me three hours towrite a two-minute email.
You know, I was just a mess andI couldn't figure out what's
going on.
And here was very fortunate.
Uh, every Wednesday night, I wasin this men's uh Bible study
group, like a prayer group,Bible study, whatever you want
to call it, men's group.

(07:52):
And uh, you know, and I'musually pretty active, you know,
in discussions.
I'm a guy who wants to challengeor wants to push people or
whatever it is.
But I was just kind of sittingin the corner with my head down,
sort of, you know, just likedepressed, sad.
And in the middle of the Biblestudy, a couple guys texted me,
hey man, you okay?
And I'm like, Yeah, yeah.

(08:13):
And this is probably January 8thor something at this point.
Okay.
You know, I'm like, no, it'sjust New Year's blues.
I'm just trying to figure outwhat my next step is.
I don't have a big vision,whatever it was, you know.
Now I'm a guy who's taken a lotof personal development
programs, everything from likeTony Robbins to landmark forum
to Hoffman process, you name it,right?
Like I'm a guy who's alwayslike, what's the next
transformation?

(08:33):
You know, what can I do next?
How can I push myself?
Who can I surround myself to bea better man, a better person,
increase my career, whatever itis.
Anyway, uh a week went by, sameresult.
I'm like I'm sitting at home.
I never watch TV.
In fact, I haven't had a TV inmy house since I think 2010.
For whatever reason, I had onethere, and I was what I kept

(08:55):
watching television and eatinglike French fries and
hamburgers, and I kept watchingtwo episodes in particular, and
it was uh Pawn Stars on theHistory Channel and American
Pickers.
And I just couldn't get enoughof it.
I watched the reruns and rerunsand reruns, and later out I kind
of figured like, wow, thoseguys, it felt comfortable to me.

(09:17):
You know, they that they feltlike almost like family, like I
could sit there because they'refriendly and funny and all that
stuff.
But it was just me able to kindof observe without being in
interaction because I was reallyuh isolating myself as well at
this time.
Well, the next week I went backto the Bible study and I was a
mess, like a real mess.

(09:37):
And uh, you know, at the endthey said, Hey, can we anyone
have any prayer requests?
I said, Yeah.
I was like, something's notright with me.
I don't know what it is.
I said, but I need prayer.
And they prayed, you know, let'shelp Kevin figure out what's
going on with them, right?
Like, because I couldn'tdescribe it.
And at the time, too, I wascalling, I was going through my
phone, uh, you know, my phone, Iwas calling people who I hadn't

(09:59):
talked to in years, and I wasjust looking for comfort.
You know, I was like lookingfor, I was like, I don't know,
maybe I need a life coach, maybeI need a psychiatrist, I don't
know, I need something.
And anyone who would take mycall, I would just kind of tell
them sort of like my pity partyI was going through, you know,
like these emotional things Iwas experiencing.
And anyway, I had an event up inSan Francisco later that week.

(10:23):
And uh it was a big event, and Iwas still a weirdo, you know,
it's the only way I can explainit.
I just wasn't myself.
I was eating like candy bars,you know, and part of that, by
the way, that that sugar rushhelps, you know, it gives you
that comfort and makes you feelgood at the moment.
But uh I'm at this event, Ican't pay attention to any any

(10:44):
of the presentations.
I'm like trying to playtic-tac-toe with the guy sitting
next to me.
I'm like, what is wrong with me?
I'm acting like a little kid.
And uh I had breakfast with afriend, and this is where
everything kind of thebreakthrough was for me.
And a friend of mine, uh,Alexandra, and I mean to uh to
this day I tell her she saved mylife.
I think I write about her in thebook.
I'd say, listen, you know, shesaved my life.

(11:06):
Thank you.
And she sat across from me andat breakfast, and she said, Do
you know Brendan Burchard?
And Brendan Brashard's like abig motivational speaker, you
know, marketing guy.
I said, Yeah, I know Brendan.
She was like, you know, a coupleyears ago he flipped his ATV
down in Mexico and he had abrain injury.
And I was like, I stopped in mytracks.

(11:27):
I said, Oh my God.
I reached across the table,grabbed her arm, I'm like, I
have a brain injury.
I was like, I got into amotorcycle accident.
I had even forgotten about themotorcycle accident, besides for
the soft tissue damage in myelbow.
I was like, I have a braininjury.
Clearly.
That's exactly what's going onwith me.
Now, at the time, thankfully, Iknew guys like Dr.

(11:48):
Daniel Eamon.
You know, I'd been in amastermind group with them.
I had taken courses with ZHealth, which, you know, helps
people rewire the brain,physical therapists and personal
trainers.
So I knew this stuff.
And the reason I wrote the bookand the reason I like having
these discussions is becausemost people don't have access,
don't have the knowledge, don'tunderstand brain injuries at

(12:10):
all.
And so there I was, I knew aboutthis stuff, and I still didn't
know I had a concussion.
I still didn't know I wassuffering from brain damage.
So I was like, oh my God, yousaved my life.
I flew back to Phoenix.
I went to my friend Joe Polish.
I was doing some work with himat the time, and I said, Hey
man, you know why I've been soweird the last couple weeks?

(12:32):
I have a brain injury.
And I started listing out mysymptoms, and we called Brendan
Bouchard.
And Brendan Bouchard goes, Ohyeah, man, let me tell you my
symptoms.
And word for word, line forline, it was everything I was
going through.
And this is a critical piece.
You know, I have the seven stepsto recovery in my book.
And number one is awareness,right?

(12:53):
Like you have to know you have abrain injury.
You can't start your road torecovery until you're aware,
until you know.
And this is the problem.
The reason I call it the silentsecret killer of relationships,
careers, and lives is becausenot only does the person who has
the brain injury, they don'tknow they have the brain injury,
their spouse, their kids, theirco-workers, their boss, their

(13:15):
partners, whatever it may be,they don't know either.
They just know they'reexperiencing this person who is
now hell on earth to experience.
You know, they're just a mess.
They can't get things done.
They're being weird, quickshort, you know, short fuse
anger.
And uh, and and so, you know, soafter that, instantly I went to

(13:37):
get my brain scanned.
And the the guy down in Phoenixsaid, Yeah, you have left
frontal lobe damage and leftrear damage as well.
And you know, left frontal lobeis cognitive thinking, future
vision, all of these things.
Executive functioning, executivefunctioning, everything.
So I was like, oh my gosh, likeI'm in trouble.

(13:57):
And I think the fear that wehave as uh concussion survivors
is that is this permanent?
Is this swim gonna be forever?
Boy, this is really gonna messme up.
My entire life has been being acreative thinker and executive
leader.
You know, I have a backgroundworking with the White House and
the CIA and the FBI and theSecret Service.
I'd go in and do presentationsfor the White House next to Dick

(14:20):
Cheney's war room, right?
Like, I'm the guy, you know.

SPEAKER_00 (14:24):
You need to be on.

SPEAKER_01 (14:25):
Right.
Like I've started up so manybusinesses.
I'm like, oh my gosh, what doesthis mean for me?
And it's scary.
It really is frightening.
And really what it means is thatit's time to recover, right?
And let, you know, betransformed in our recovery.
And so I started the recoveryprocess uh immediately.

(14:46):
You know, in my book, I talkabout the seven steps of
recovery.
Number one is awareness, likethat.
You have to know that you have abrain injury.
Number two is I started treatingmyself like a child.
Kevin, you're not this uh bigguy who can out there, you're
not dynamic anymore.
Right now, you're a three tofive-year-old little boy.

(15:08):
You have to treat yourself likea little kid.
If you need to take a nap, takea nap.
You know, if you if you need totake time off, take time off.
Like, do not be out frontexecutive functioning man right
now.
Just be a child and listen toother people and let other
people take care of you and letother people and let the healers

(15:29):
heal you.
You know, and this isn't, andthis is, you know, I didn't
understand why 22 soldiers a daykilled themselves.
I didn't understand why guyslike Junior Seao, you know,
these big, strong, masculinefootball players and soldiers
would kill themselves until Iwent through this experience.
I mean, I was suicidal.
I said, I can't live this way.
You know, I was so confused.

(15:50):
I tell women, you know, tounderstand the experience.
I'm like, imagine your worst PMSday every day for five months.
They're like, uh, no, thank you.
And I'm a guy, so I don't have acontext for it, right?
I'm just this emotional, youknow, mess, crying, angry,
uncontrolled emotions.
And kind of the interestingthing, the interesting part of

(16:11):
that as well is when we lose theexecutive function, you know,
the right brain is more aboutthe emotions and the feelings
and some of these other things.
Just like if you were to injureyour right hand and you're right
handed, well, your left handwill start doing the things your
right hand used to do until it'shealed.
Well, my right brain was superactive doing the things that my
left brain would normally do.

(16:32):
And so that's where a lot ofthose emotions came from.
But um, but yeah, so it was areally interesting time.
And at that point, I wasdetermined to get back to who I
was before.
And as, you know, someone thatspends so much time in personal
development, a man of faith, youknow, a guy who's accomplished a
lot of things and done a lot ofthings in my life, I said, I'm

(16:53):
not just gonna get back, I'mgonna get better.

SPEAKER_00 (18:06):
Love it.
I love it.
And, you know, your story has somany parallels with my ammon.
I mean, I was living inpost-concussion syndrome and I
didn't know it for a very longtime.
All I knew was that I was angrya lot, I was irritable, I was
easily overwhelmed, I wasstressed out, I wasn't sleeping,
I was anxious, I was depressed,suicidal, you know, all the same

(18:30):
things.
And I didn't know why.
And I think, you know, you'reshedding light on such an
important aspect, which is thatwhen you're living in the fog of
concussion, you don't have thatself-awareness to step outside
of you and say, there'ssomething else going on here.
This is not normal.

SPEAKER_01 (18:45):
Well said.
Very, very well said.
I love that.
The fog of concussion, becausethat's what it's like.
It's like a fog.
And you can't see and you don'tknow where you are.
Uh, I mean, physically you knowwhere you are, but as far as
emotionally and your in yourfuture, it really kind of hits
you between the eyes.
And I as I started tellingpeople, you know, this is uh
number three in my uh, you know,seven steps recovery is telling

(19:09):
people, like being open andsharing about your experience.
Hey, listen, because listen, ifyou have a broken leg and you're
walking into Starbucks on yourcrutches, people are gonna hold
the door open for you.
Because people are naturallyempathetic and they want to
help, you know.
Hey, can I carry that for you?
Yeah, sure.
If you're in the grocery store,hey, let me get that for you.
We do it all the time, right?
I'm tall.
So I saw a gal the other daytrying to pick up something off

(19:30):
the top shelf.
Could you reach that for me?
Of course I can.
But if you don't know and otherpeople don't know you're
injured, they can't help you.
So I got very active in tellingpeople.
I'd go to dinners, you know,because I did I stopped
isolating, but everywhere I'dgo, I'd tell people, hey, just
so you know, I had a braininjury.
I was in a motorcycle accidentin Ecuador, you know, a few

(19:52):
weeks ago.
I'm okay, but I just want you toknow I'm suffering from a
concussion and post-concussionsyndrome.
Uh, if I need to step up andleave, it's not you, it's me.
I'm just dealing with somethings in my brain injury that,
you know, you couldn't quiteunderstand right now.
Like, oh my God, thank you fortelling me.
By the way, I know someone at uhuh Barrows Neurological
Institute.
You should talk to them.

(20:13):
Oh, I have a friend who doesthis.
And all of a sudden, these doorsstarted opening because I was
willing to share.
I wasn't hiding behind thisinjury, I was being completely
open with every single person Imet.
And I listened and listened andlistened.
And this even led me to one partof my healing.
I took this, uh, it was a it wasa company called Brainstate.

(20:36):
They've changed the name since.
Uh, but this guy had inventedthis program, and it was uh,
you'd have these earbuds in andwould play sounds, and you'd
have these uh EKG things on yourhead.
And based on the sounds, itwould feed into your brain.
It was the craziest thing.
And I was like, the first day Idid it, it was like a 45-minute

(20:57):
session, I left there exhaustedand angry.
And I was like, Oh, this must beworking.
My brain's rewiring, right?
And the second time, I waseuphoric.
I was like super euphoric, and Ido it twice a day for five days.
And this was probably about fiveor six months in.
Um, but I would never have knownabout this if I hadn't shared

(21:18):
with somebody about my braininjury.
And they said, Hey, there's thisguy, John, you didn't meet him.
He had a brain injury and he'sdone all this therapy.
I went and had lunch with thatguy.
I'd never met him before.
And he said, You need to go dothis therapy immediately.
I'm like, Okay.
And then on the fifth day, I'llnever forget this, after my
therapy session, I went to thegym.
Now I had quit going to the gymbecause I just didn't have the

(21:39):
motivation.
I didn't have the energy.
People don't understand.
You know, your brain uses 60,70, 80% of your energy
resources.
So when it's healing andrewiring, it'll wipe you out.
So I didn't have any extraenergy resources to go to the
gym.
I've been working out since Iwas 15, 16 years old.
And that was a big, you know,that hurt me as well.

(22:00):
I remember after my fifthsession, I went to the gym in
Scottsdale, Arizona, and I wassitting there working out, doing
biceps or something.
I'm like, oh, I'm back.
Like there was that moment, likeit was five or six months in.
And this isn't for this doesn'thappen to everyone.
Sometimes, you know, it takesyears, sometimes it takes two or
three months.
For me, it was about the five orsix month point where I was

(22:20):
sitting there and was clear asday.
I'm back.
I think I'm okay.
And I remember I was emailing,uh, I've been friends with Tana
Eyman, Dr.
Eymon's wife, Dr.
Dana Lehman's wife, for a longtime.
And I remember messaging her,and she was like, Kevin, just
know that recovery and healingisn't a straight line.
It's not, okay, now you'rehealed like a broken arm.

(22:42):
Okay, you're you're good now.
It's ups and downs and ups anddowns and ups and downs.
And even to this day, I stayaware to the fact that maybe a
reaction of short fuse orwhatever it may be could stem
from my brain injury, even tothis day, which is, you know, 13
years later.
So I've always been aware ofthat.

(23:04):
It's really important for theaudience to know that recovery
is not a straight line and it'snot a one-for-one, my recovery
would be different than yourrecovery, because every brain is
different and every brain injuryis different.

SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
And you're so right that it'sit's not a linear recovery, and
that can be very hard for peoplewhen they just want to see once
they feel good, they obviouslywant to stay feeling good.
Yes.
And uh that that technique thatyou were referring to, they
changed the name to Sarah set.
Oh, yes, okay.

SPEAKER_01 (23:33):
That sounds familiar.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (23:35):
Yeah.
I actually did that for thefirst time this summer and
interviewed uh the Dr.
Allah who was I who I was doingit with uh for the podcast.

SPEAKER_01 (23:45):
Oh, great.
Sarah said, okay, yeah, I knewit.
I knew they had changed thename.
It was Brainstate back when Idid it.
And the gentleman who inventedit was a was an engineer, like a
computer engineer, and he hadbeen jumped and beat up with
baseball bats or something.
And he was like, I've got to soyou know, I think what I'm
saying here with that is likethere's always an opportunity,
right?
Like transforming ourselves andseeing everything as a new

(24:09):
possibility.
You know, one of the things,too, that I had, uh, I've done
this program called Life Bookand used to facilitate this
program as well.
And, you know, you map out 12areas of your life very
specifically for every categoryfrom health and fitness to
relationship to career toemotional life.
You had a premise, a vision, apurpose, and a strategy written

(24:30):
out with pictures in it.
So here's where that camehelpful for me.
I was able to look back atjournals and things that I had
done and things I had writtenout.
I'm like, okay, it was almostlike I had a script for my life.
So when my brain wasn't quiteworking and I couldn't use the
resources for having a biggervision, I could look back at my
journals and the things I hadwritten about and my plan for

(24:52):
the future that I had writtenabout, my goals.
And that was very helpful aswell.

SPEAKER_00 (24:57):
You said something really important that I would
love to just expound on becauseyou said initially you started
going to these like dinnermeetings with people and you
would just let them know aheadof time, hey, I've had a
concussion, I'm dealing withthis.
But the next level of that isthat because you were open about
that, then those people knewother people that could help you

(25:19):
in your healing.
And so it created, it openeddoors for you.
And they say that, you know,people, 80% of the jobs that
people get are because they wereintroduced to somebody who then
opened the door for them to getthat job.
And it's almost the same thingwhere when people are looking
for help, the more open you areabout your experience and that
you you need help, the moredoors are going to open for you.

SPEAKER_01 (25:43):
Well, that's the other part of that's the other
side of this, Ayla.
It's not that I was just gettinghelp from other people.
Every time I had thisconversation, this is the reason
I wrote the book.
Every single time I had thisconversation, oh, my daughter
was in a car accident.
Oh, my, you know, my son playedfootball and he's been
struggling.
And everyone has a relative orsomeone they know or a friend

(26:05):
who's had a brain injury.
You know, I was in arelationship at the time that
didn't work out.
And it was didn't work out, youknow, primarily for the brain
injury.
I was a mess.
I remember I told the girl, wewere in a new relationship.
I said, I want you to know Ihave a brain injury, and I want
you to know that right now Idon't need a girlfriend, I need
a nurse.
Like, and I don't want you to bemy nurse.
Like, and so I had to breakthings off.

(26:28):
But even her, she had been uhhit by a car at her senior year
in high school, and you know,not major accident, but she fell
back.
Or no, she was sitting on top ofa car, and the guy moved the
car, and she fell back andbanged her head on the sidewalk,
cracked her skull open.
And as soon as I started tellingher about my symptoms, she was
like, oh my gosh.

(26:49):
She spiraled after that.
She started doing drugs, likeall kinds of things.
And like just having theseconversations with people opens
them up to new possibilities andthe possibility of healing and
all of the resources out there.
You know, I ended up having aconversation with Dr.
Freddy Scarcia and MattAntonucci, ended up going down
to the uh, I think it was theCarrick Institute at the time,

(27:09):
ended up doing business with thePlasticity Brain Center later
on.
I started a company called NeuroPerformance Academy, you know,
where instead of just healingpeople who were broken, I
started working with uhbiohackers, top performing
executives, elite athletes,major league baseball, football,
and you know, creating a programfor them, not just to heal from

(27:30):
concussions, but to maximize thenervous system.
So, you know, it's like none ofthis would have happened if I
hadn't had that littlemotorcycle accident down in
Ecuador.
And so I think that's one of thekey things.
Um, and I'll go through the lastuh few pieces of the seven steps
of recovery.
Number four is nutrition.
You know, once I knew I had abrain injury, I went all in on

(27:52):
brain food and brainsupplements, you know, leafy
greens.
I cut out all processed sugars,all artificial colors, all
artificial sweeteners, uh, heavyfat diets, you know, uh fish
oils, um, all kinds of things.
You know, it was just like uh,you know, proteins, fats,

(28:12):
greens, lots of uh fruits andvegetables.
I just went very clean becauseI'm like, my brain needs all the
help it can get right now.
The other one was rest.
Like rest, your brain needs torecover.
So, like I mentioned earlier, Itreat myself like a
five-year-old.
When I need to take a nap, Itook a nap.
There was no question, there wasno argument.
It's time for a nap.

(28:33):
It could be in the middle of theday, I could be in the middle of
a meeting.
I'm like, okay, we gotta wrapthis meeting, guys.
I gotta go take a nap.
You know, like my brain needsit.
And I just allowed myself torest, rest, rest, rest as much
as possible.
And then I think the last twohere are almost spiritual uh
pieces.
And this is important too, likealigning your mental, your
physical, and your spirituallife.

(28:54):
And and number six was createsomething in your life to look
forward to.
You know, when we have a biggoal in life, no matter what it
is.
My wife is a professional bikinicompetitor, right?
When she has a date on thecalendar where she's gonna be on
stage and that's sparkly bikiniand high heels, like she's
ready, you know, like and she'spreparing eight months in
advance.
She's looking forward to it.

(29:15):
She's like picking out the colorof the bikini, picking out like
my wife.
I've watched her do littlerhinestones on these clear
plastic heels for like a month,like piece by piece.
She's so excited for it.
But it's not just that, it'slike book a vacation, you know,
book yourself at an event whereyou're gonna meet really cool
people.
You know, at the time I had thebrain injury, I had a trip

(29:36):
booked where I was going toNecker Island, Richard Branson's
Island.
And I said, I can, and there wasgonna be a bunch of
entrepreneurs on the island,we're gonna we were gonna be
there for seven days.
I said, I cannot be a weirdowhen I'm hanging out with
Richard Branson.
I've got to be more normal.
So I had this goal in mind.
And by the time I got on NeckerIsland, I was almost 100%.

(29:56):
I was almost there.
Yeah.
And the last piece is uhservice.
You know, oftentimes we get socaught up in our problems and
our issues.
I don't know whether you'regoing through divorce, whether
you're going through a braininjury, when no matter what it
is, if we can get out of our ownmorass, our own swamp of
depression, and we can go servepeople.

(30:18):
I'm telling you, it will changeyour life forever.
In the midst of my brain injury,I got invited to go to a trip to
Nicaragua to serve in the mostimpoverished community in this
hemisphere.
You know, we go to this placecalled La Choreca, it's the
garbage dump for Managua,Nicaragua, where about 3,000
people live.
And we would set up feedingstation for the kids, and we
would build homes in thisneighborhood called Tippitapa.

(30:40):
Uh, Cristo Rey was actually thename of the neighborhood.
Um, you know, doing that, beinga part of that mission trip for
me changed my life forever.
And I had done it before, butbeing, and I told everyone on
the trip, I say, hey, listen,I'm not gonna be 100%, I'll be
about 70 to 80%.
I won't be able to do all thestuff I've always done.
I may take a step back and justkind of observe at times.

(31:02):
But when you feed a hungry childwho otherwise wouldn't eat that
day, all of your problemsdisappear.
You know, this is the spiritualaspect.
Of concussion recovery andtransforming your concussion
into something extraordinary.
And, you know, for years I hadconcussion transformation.com.
I've kind of let that go.
And I've had that bookdownloaded over a thousand times

(31:23):
all over the world.
I would see these peopledownloading the free PDF.
I just gave away for free, youknow?
And I started something calledthe Concussion Recovery Network.
You know, I just said, hey, howpeople need help out there.
How can I help them?

SPEAKER_00 (31:37):
Yeah.
Yeah, it is so powerful.
And for me, you know, the thispodcast is that.
You know, it's it's my servicein terms of like, how can I
reach people around the entireglobe?
And I just love going andseeing, oh, wow, like people in,
you know, 45 different countrieshave listened to episodes of the
podcast and hopefully it'shelped somebody.

SPEAKER_01 (31:58):
Yeah, well, it certainly is.
Because people just don't knowwhat to do.
And they come across it and theystart going down the rabbit hole
of, you know, the brain injuryworld.
And, you know, it's like youjust come across one solution.
And I try to keep my book verysimple.
It was like a 70-page book witha journal at the end.
This is another piece too.
Uh, this is part of havingsomething to look forward to is

(32:18):
journal.
You know, like, hey, what did Ido great today?
Or how do I feel today?
You know, and just writing itout.
And it's just being present inthe moment.
Because, you know, when you arebrain injured, sometimes it is
difficult to think past, hey,how am I going to get through
today?
You know, it's like step bystep, it's like day by day.
And so having a journal thatsays, wow, what can I do to help
others today?

(32:39):
How can I feel good today, orwhatever it may be, you know?
So having an active journal,because then you also get to
track your recovery.
I mean, I cannot tell you howmuch of a mess I was when I
first got back to the USA, whichby the way, after my accident,
and this happens all the time,uh, you know, you have this rush
of adrenaline because your yourbrain goes in and your nervous

(33:02):
system goes into survival mode.
So I was okay from the 28th allthe way through the first.
I was like, okay.
I mean, I wasn't okay, but youknow, because what was happening
to you.
Right, exactly.
I was trying to surf the nextday.
I keep thinking about that.
And then the um, but your brainis slowly dying off.
All those neural connections,all of those things start to

(33:24):
slowly die.
And by the time the first camearound, I was furious.
I would have been mad at anyonethat was in my life, and I was
just a total mess.
And then people need tounderstand too that the number
one cause of concussions isautomobile accidents, you know,
motorcycle automobile accidents.
Number two is falls.
Three is sports related,football is far and away, number

(33:44):
one, girl soccer is number two.
And then uh the fourth one isfights, you know, fist fights or
domestic violence.
And the last one is wartimeinjuries.
You know, these soldiers comeback, and I was on a uh call
doing a presentation last weekfor an organization called Aero
Recovery Group and Heal ofHeroes.
These are veterans who are goingthrough a year-long uh

(34:06):
transformation process.
You know, they often arediagnosed with PTSD, you know,
post-traumatic stress disorder.
Well, that's not always accuratebecause the symptoms of PCS
post-concussion syndrome arealmost identical to
post-traumatic stress disorder.
And, you know, it and you can'tjust like you can't heal a uh a

(34:26):
broken arm with pharmaceuticals,you know, or psychedelic drugs,
whatever it may be, you can'ttreat a you know brain injury
with drugs either.
So sometimes these guys get onthese pharmaceutical drugs, and
sometimes two, three, four, fiveof them to help heal their PTSD,
because the doctors in the VAare often just writing scripts

(34:47):
and they haven't even had abrain scan, or they haven't even
said, because you know, toughguy soldiers, even like tough
guy me, you know, I didn'tunderstand I had a brain injury,
you know, your your uh your yourJeep gets blown up and your
friend dies or he loses his arm,and you're in one piece, so you
think you're fine.
But the concussion from that uhbomb, that IED, whatever it may

(35:10):
be, or that automobile accident,that's gonna cause a brain
injury, even if you have ahelmet on.
And so guys don't understandthis.
So a lot of these guys arecoming back from these wars and
these areas with brain injuries,and they're suicidal.

SPEAKER_00 (35:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
Um, tell me a little bit moreabout that organization and uh
you know the work you're doingwith them.

SPEAKER_01 (35:31):
Oh, yeah.
So Heal the Heroes and uh, well,yeah, that's a great
organization.
Uh Aero Recovery Group.
It's my friend Jeremy Locke andhis wife.
They founded it, and uh he's aformer, he's retired Green
Beret, special forces guys.
You know, to go back to theservice piece, you know, I was
in Ukraine with these guys abouttwo weeks after the war started

(35:52):
over there, and we were doingorphan rescue, right?
I had never been into a you knowuh a war zone before, but I'm
over there with a bunch ofspecial forces guys.
We have a tactical operationscenter, we have a safe house in
Lviv, uh, Ukraine, a safe housein Cheshaw, Poland.
And, you know, we're just goingout and rescuing orphans
essentially.
Wow.
There's a huge orphan populationover in uh Ukraine, you know,

(36:15):
half a million to a million.
And so we'd get these orphans inuh, you know, 50 at a time with
about 12 caretakers, and we'dhave to put them up in safe
housing, resupply them with, youknow, clothing and food and all
of these things.
It was quite the operation.
I mean, we we were there everynight there were air raid
sirens.
We watched the fuel depot getblown up at the airport from our

(36:35):
safe house.
I mean, it was it was wild.
These guys do great work.
I mean, you know, wheneverthere's a tornado, we did some
work up in Clarksville and up inKentucky.
Hurricanes, they were first onthe ground.
They're like tip of the spear inNorth Carolina when the
hurricanes hit there, theflooding, first on the ground in
Florida.
Uh, what talk abouttransformation?
These are guys who have takentheir, you know, military

(36:57):
experience, which is designed togo kill people, right?
And they're like turning it intogood.
You know, now instead of beingsoldiers uh, you know, for war,
now they're soldiers forservice.
And it's been a greatorganization.
I've watched them take thisthing from zero to you know 150
miles per hour, and they're justdoing so much good work.
They're at the earthquake inTurkey, they were at the uh

(37:18):
floods in Pakistan.
They just have quite theoperation and they have almost
not unlimited resources, butthese soldiers, these former
soldiers who want to volunteertheir time and be a part of
something to change their lives.
So, yeah, and these guys, he hadme on uh last week to talk to
these guys.
They put on this program calledHeal the Heroes, and these guys
end up being service workers forerror recovery, typically.

(37:41):
And part of that was, hey, talkabout the brain injury book,
Kevin.
Talk about your brain injury.
You know, I talked about how tolive a big life, you know, how
to transform your life.
And uh, and but part of that waseven the bad moments in life.
Like you've taken yourexperience, Ayla, and you've
made this incredible podcast forpeople all over the world to
hear, like you mentioned, youknow, um, because there is hope.

(38:04):
I think that's the big lessonhere.
There always is hope.
You know, I'm now married to thewoman of my dreams.
You know, I have a beautifulthree-year-old boy, almost
three-year-old boy.
Uh, I live in Nashville,Tennessee now.
Like, I just feel like I'mliving the greatest life I could
possibly live.
I live with this mentality, howcan I make this better?
It's kind of how I've been wiredthe last 20 years of my life.

(38:27):
But uh, you know, I just, it'san extraordinary life, and
that's on the other side of theimpact.
This is the life after impact,right?

SPEAKER_00 (38:35):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, I think the thingthat scares me when I think back
is like, you know, you havethose dark moments where you're
having the suicidal thoughts,and it's like, how grateful am I
that I survived that and thatI'm on the other end of it doing
the things that I'm doing, andmy life has purpose and meaning,

(38:55):
and I'm happy and I'm mentallyhealthy.
And so, yes, it's like to lookback and say, there was a point
in my life where I just didn'twant to live anymore.
But then look how beautiful mylife became because I persevered
and I made it through.
And so I think again, going backto that thing you mentioned in
the beginning is like you askedfor help, right?
Like you kept saying, I'mdealing with this and doors open

(39:19):
for you.
And I just, you know, I hopethat anybody listening who's
dealing with these, you know,things like depression and
suicidal thoughts are arehopefully able to reach out and
get the help they need becausethere are people out there that
can help.
They're they're everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 (39:34):
I mentioned earlier too, like I would go through my
phone and just call people Ihadn't talked to in years.
I needed friends.
I needed to, you know, here Iwas alone in the world.
I remember talking to anex-girlfriend and she had had a
brain injury.
She had gone through the uhwindshield of a car when she was
19.
And she was, and she just knewexactly what I was going
through.
You know, it was just it was socomforting when you have someone

(39:55):
who gets you and knows you andhas been through it.
And but what I did, I remember Ijust started calling people.
I called all those people backand said, Hey, listen, remember
I called you a couple weeks agoand I was like a little bit
weird, or I was trying, I waslike, I have a brain injury.
They're like, no way.
I'm like, yeah, remember thatmotorcycle accident I was in?
Yeah, I had a brain injury.
So it's just it was so great.
And this is why awareness is soimportant because it just helps

(40:16):
you piece it all together and ithelps you get on that road to
recovery.
And like I said, the number onesilent secret killer of
relationships, careers, andlives, I was fortunately in a
place where, you know, I was ina new relationship that did end.
Uh, my career, I was able to puta pause on it, essentially, at
that time.
Um, you know, shortlythereafter, I launched a whole

(40:38):
entire skincare brand onlinewith some partners.
It was amazing, you know, likeone of my most successful
businesses.
But that was like a year after,you know, and so if I hadn't
taken that pause, who knows whatwould have happened, right?
Like it I think sometimes likeGod gives us these pauses that
says, hey, uh, just doublecheck, you know, let's make sure
you're on the right path.

(40:58):
And, you know, most of the talksI give now are all about
transformation.
And, you know, I the example ofcaterpillar to butterfly, right?
The caterpillar only knows theleaf in front of it, right?
That's all it has.
It doesn't know any possibilityother than the leaf in front of
it.
And then suddenly it goes into ametamorphosis and it goes into a
cocoon.
And at that point, it liquefies,it becomes liquid, right?

(41:22):
And it's at its most vulnerable.
I heard this.
Yeah.
It's it's called chrysalis, andit's at its most vulnerable
state.
It can't fight back, it can'trun, it can't hide.
There it just sits in thechrysalis.
Well, inside the DNA of thatliquid is the DNA for a mighty
butterfly.
And as the butterfly breaks outof that cocoon and works its
strength with the wings buttingout of the cocoon, not only is

(41:43):
that caterpillar unrecognizableto the world, the world is
unrecognizable to it because nowit's infinite.
Right.
So sometimes I think going intothe cocoon, and this is kind of
how I describe my suffering frompost-concussion syndrome, was
inside the cocoon and allowingGod to do his work while I did
my part to come out and be acompletely different human

(42:05):
being.
Right?
It's that kind of liketransformation.
I felt like I was dead.
I look back at those times and Ilike would tear up for the
longest time, like, my gosh,because you were just talking
about being grateful.
I'm like, my gosh, if I hadn'thad that conversation with
Alexander that day, who knowswhere I would be right now?

SPEAKER_00 (42:23):
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (42:23):
You know, so we do, we have this spirit of gratitude
for all the things and theability to transform and, you
know, for how the universe worksaround us.
The people come, you know, wejust have to get out there and
we can't isolate for too long.

SPEAKER_00 (42:39):
Yeah.
You know, my my logo for LifeAfter Impact is a it's a
butterfly, but it kind of lookslike neurons.
It's a little bit abstract.
So I think looking at it, peoplemight not quite know.
But that was my inspiration formy logo was this concept of like
butterfly meets neuron.

SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
Yeah.
Well, that's the thing is thethe miracle of nature, you know,
how like we're in the fallseason here in Nashville now and
the trees are gonna get brown,and then it bursts again in the
spring.
And like you we just have tokind of hold on and be strong
and take the effort and take thesteps to get to a place of
healing.
And just also, if you knowsomeone who's got a brain
injury, just you know, get abook, listen to the podcast,

(43:19):
share something with them,right?
So that they can get the healingthey need.

SPEAKER_00 (43:22):
Yeah.
Do you want to talk a little bitmore about the things that you
did as far as healing yourbrain?
Because now you mentioned youyou changed your diet, you
allowed yourself to take rest asmuch as needed.
Um, what are some of the otherthings that you did?

SPEAKER_01 (43:35):
Uh, you know, I like I started with some activity,
just not like heavyweightlifting like I did before.
And you know, and then I endedup putting myself also, you
know, the what was what's thenew name of it?
It was called Brain Statebefore.

SPEAKER_00 (43:49):
Uh oh, Saracet.

SPEAKER_01 (43:51):
Saracet, that was a big piece of it.
And then I ended up goingthrough uh the Plasticity Brain
Center.
So I put myself through thatprogram as well.
And these are, you know, peoplethat go through that, uh, a lot
of them are hockey players, butalso, you know, and this is
where I really kind ofunderstood like the impact of
what they were doing.
There was like a five-year-oldboy that was there and that was

(44:12):
going in front of me, and thefive-year-old boy had fallen
into his uh grandfather's poolwhen the grandfather was
babysitting, wasn't watchinghim, pulled him out.
You know, kid was unconscious,and they took him to a hospital
in Miami.
And, you know, they said yourkid's gonna be a vegetable the
rest of his life, took him toanother specialist, they said
the same thing, and then theytook him to Carrick, you know,
and Matt Antonucci.

(44:33):
And they said, Okay, yeah, yourson has brain damage, but he has
area of his brains that aren'tdamaged.
Let's access those and rewirehis brain so that he can be
himself again.
And I remember the story, likethe first day they went through
the Plasty C Brain Center, thekid smiled and he hadn't smiled
in months.
You know, it was just like thatmoment.
And the kid was going throughconstant therapy and it was

(44:54):
expensive, but you know, it wasworth it.
So I even did that.
You know, they have the mark,the multi-axis rotational chair.
They had all kinds ofrehabilitation.
Here's what was interestingabout that as well.
I remember I was doing anassessment and then exercises,
assessment and exercises twice aday.
And I would go home at nightwiped.
I mean, like I had run amarathon or like I'd been

(45:15):
squatting all day uh withweights.
And uh, because your brainrewiring it was uh that it wipes
you out, you know?
So I did that as well.
I did everything and anything.
I read all of Dr.
Daniel Eamon's book.
I got my brain scanned by Dr.
Eamon.
Uh, he has clinics all over thecountry.
I went out to his Costa Mesaclinic, met with Tana, got my

(45:35):
brain scan, and uh and you know,it's funny too, because I always
wondered if I was suffering fromADD or ADHD.
I always felt like I was.
And uh Eamon at the time, hewasn't doing any diagnoses, but
he looked at my scans and hesaid, Yeah, Kevin, uh, you do
have ADD, ADHD.
I could definitely see you had aconcussion at some point.
Looks like you're doing wellnow, though.

(45:55):
You know, and so Eamon is apsychologist and he tries to
cure uh brain ailments,including addictions and these
types of things, with nutrition.
And so, you know, uh acetyllcarnitine, phosphodiosyrine,
like all these brain uhsupplements, I was taking lots
of those as well.

(46:16):
But I there I was gonna leave nostone left unturned.
I'm like, whatever resource ittakes, I'll go broke pursuing
healing because I want to knowwhat's on the other side of this
brain injury, and boy am I gladI did.

SPEAKER_00 (46:29):
Yeah, absolutely.
Because, you know, you can't puta price tag on your brain
health.

SPEAKER_01 (46:35):
Well, no, that I mean that's there's a saying,
uh, a man with his health has athousand wishes, a man without
his health has one.
You know, and the wish is to getyour health back.
And that really hit home for mewhen I had my brain injury.
I'm like, oh my gosh.
And also how important brainhealth was.
We forget about this as we gothrough life.
We have no idea how importantour brain is.

SPEAKER_00 (46:56):
You you talk a lot about transformation, uh, you
you do a lot of public speaking.
Uh, what would be the one thingyou'd want to leave people with
today?

SPEAKER_01 (47:05):
So I think one of the big things is uh have a big
vision for your life.
Like nothing in the way.
You know, like forget aboutwhatever it costs, whatever it
does.
Have a vision for your life thatblows you away.
And if you want to take it tothe next level, get yourself a
journal and don't just journalabout today.
I call it remembering the futureor future journaling.

(47:28):
Put on the calendar October18th, 2026.
On your, on your uh, in yourjournal.
And then start writing as ifyou're there.
Here I am in Bali.
I can't believe I just surfedthe waves of Uluwatu.
I'm here with my wife and myson, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
Write it all out as if it'salready happened.

(47:48):
Because we're paving our neuralpathways for this vision.
You know, I mentioned I was onthe island with Richard Branson.
Six years before that, I had cutout a picture of Richard
Branson.
I just let I read hisautobiography, Losing My
Virginity, and I said, I gottameet this guy.
He's so interesting, and I wantto meet this guy.
And then, sure enough, six yearslater I get a call.

(48:09):
Hey, man, well, actually, it wasfour years later I get a call.
Hey, would you like to havedinner with Richard Branson?
I'm like, yeah, sure.
Then it was like, hey, would youlike to go on his island?
And I'm not, it's not magic, buteven doing business with the
White House.
Like, I was living inWashington, D.C.
I'm like, what would be theultimate client?
White House.
Six months later, I'm in, youknow, the National Security
Council office right next to theWhite House, and I sold the
White House their emailarchiving system, which they use

(48:31):
to this day.
Right?
Like my point is have a bigvision for your life because you
never know what happens.
Like, you know, it's liketalking about shooting for the
moon, even if you miss, you'llbe amongst the stars.
And the other piece of this isyou know, book the ticket, the
rest will work itself out.
Like and this is a motto ofmine.
I always buy one-way tickets,you know, and the the the trip

(48:54):
doesn't start when you arrive atthe destination, it starts as
soon as you book the ticket.
You know, if you're gonna go tosay and you have to know a
couple things.
Like here's how people livetheir lives, uh, many people.
Oh, I I want to travel one day.
Well, what does that mean?
You know, you can travel to thegrocery store, you know, like
and so they don't get specificenough.

(49:14):
You know, if you want to plant agarden, you have to know
specifically what you want togrow, you know, you gotta know
the soil, you gotta know things.
So then people say, Oh, I'd liketo go to Europe.
Well, Europe's a big place.
France.
Okay, well, there's lots ofairports in France too.
Which airport do you want toland in?
You know, Paris.
We're halfway there.

(49:35):
And then the second side of thatis the win.
Oh, one day I want to travel,not good enough.
2026, I want to no June 15th attwo o'clock, I'm gonna board a
plane to Paris, France.
And I 100% guarantee you will beready when that day comes.
You will arrive in Paris.
I promise you it all worksitself out.

(49:56):
But you just gotta book theticket.
Because what happens is youstart telling people, oh, I'm
going to France.
Oh, I know someone in France.
Oh, you should meet this, oh,you should go here.
You know, do this, do that.
And my wife and I, when wetravel to a new city, uh, we
always take the bike tour firstthing.
We get off the plane, we takethe bike tour.
And then what happens there isyou get to see all the sites on
a bike, you're a little bit jetlagged, and then you meet people

(50:17):
and they tell you where to go,you know.
So it's like, book the ticket,the rest works itself out, and
have a big vision for your life.
Have the courage to do a futurejournal, you know, about
whatever your life, whateverlife you want to you want to
live.
It's your life, it's youropportunity.
And this is what I was mostafraid about when I had my brain
injury.
Because I've been this way for20 plus years, 25 years, you

(50:41):
know.
I I left a career in DC, I movedto Costa Rica for two years
because I had some big goals.
I wanted to learn to speakSpanish, I wanted to surf every
day, I wanted to get closer tomy faith, I wanted to do mission
work, and I wanted to be animmigrant, right?
And I said, okay, what's the oneplace I could do all five?
Costa Rica.
I ended up getting rid ofeverything I owned.
And a year later I was living inCosta Rica.

(51:02):
And now I speak fluent Spanish.
You know, what I'm saying isthis is the essence of
transformation.
And when I had my brain injury,I was really afraid that my
imagination was dead.
My future vision, my executivethinking was done forever.
I was really afraid of that.
And so, but that muscle and thatthat neurological pathway of the

(51:23):
brain, it has to be exercised.
Even if you're brain injured,even if you're not, right?
Like it has to be exercised.
And so I I just encourageeveryone listening to this to
start doing that.
Pick a big destination, book aticket that you would never
normally book, and watch yourlife like thrive.

SPEAKER_00 (51:42):
You know, I have uh can I have a confession, which
is that uh I listened to uhGraham Cochrane.
He's like a busy, he does a lotof really good YouTube videos on
just business development andinspirational guy.
And he said at one point, kindof in one of his programs, make
a list of 50 dreams that youhave.
Like there's no no barriers.

(52:04):
Just make a list of 50 thingsyou'd like to have in your life
or see happen in your life.
And I sat down and I had such ahard time coming up with 25.
I couldn't, I couldn't do it.
And it to me, it just said, wow,like I have lost the ability to
dream.
And, you know, one of the thingson my list was write a book.
So out of my list, I could, Idid cross one thing off.

(52:27):
I wrote a book, I crossed thatoff.
But I couldn't even come up with50 dreams or things that I'd
like to say, as mundane as theymight even be.
I couldn't even come up with 50and I just said, wow, I need to
work on this.

SPEAKER_01 (52:38):
Well, 50 is 50 is a lot, you know, but here's the
thing too is I'd put a timer onit.
I'd I'd I'd do it 15 minutes andjust write.
And who cares what you write?
Just write, write, write, write,write.
Then you go back through and youyou sort through the 50 and you
pick the top 10, and then out oftop 10, you circle the top five,
and those top fives are n aremust-haves, meaning like this is

(52:59):
gonna happen no matter what.
And then what I would say istake it to the next level, do a
vision board around.
So, you know, I'll just kind ofgo back to what I was saying
before about when I was inWashington, D.C., I was in a
penthouse condominium inArlington, Virginia, overlooking
DC, and my clients were thewho's who?
CI, FBI, Secret Service, WorldBank, blah, blah, blah.
Right?
I was successful, but I was alittle depressed, a little sad,

(53:22):
you know, and I prayed, and itcame to me.
If you had, if you could do fivethings with your life, nothing
in the way, what would you do?
I'm like, good question.
I mentioned I'd surf every day,looked out my window, no waves
on the Potomac.
You know, I learned to speakSpanish, I get closer to my
faith, I do mission work withthe poorest of the poor, and I

(53:42):
would immigrate to a foreigncountry.
So what I the next thing waslike, okay, what's the one thing
you could do all five things?
Costa Rica.
I put a map of Costa Rica on mybathroom mirror.
Why my bathroom mirror?

SPEAKER_00 (53:55):
You'll look at it every day.

SPEAKER_01 (53:57):
It was looking at me every day.
You know, it was like, yes, Icould see it, but it was staring
at me.
You coming for me?
I just tell you something, Ayla.
At the time I was about$2million in debt.
Not bad debt.
It was American debt.
I had rent, I had a properties Iinvested in, I had a SBA loan
for a business I started, allkinds of things.
You know, and Benjamin Franklinsaid there's two ways to get

(54:17):
rich.
One is to spend less, the otheris to earn more.
Fast, fastest is to do both,right?
So I got out all my expenses.
I rented out my penthousecondominium and went homeless.
Now I wasn't homeless.
I was living out of my spa andtanning salon I'd opened up, my
room one at night.
And I just went all in.
I said, I don't care.
I didn't tell anyone either.
I told one friend who I wasgoing to Costa Rica, he was

(54:39):
like, do it.
Everyone else, like, you'recrazy.
What are you doing?
Stop that.
Are you out of your mind?
I'm like, yeah, I guess I am.
A year later, I was in CostaRica.
Ahora hablo español perfecto,porque está viviendo en Costa
Rica para los años.
Like my faith became real, notreligion.
Uh, I did mission work like Ihad mentioned, but I've done
that mission work all over theworld, including in Ecuador.
One of the things we were doingin Ecuador was the mission trip.

(55:02):
And then I immigrated to aforeign country.
It changed my life.
I lived down there for twoyears.
I went from CEO to surfer dude.
Like my hair was like down to myshoulders.
I changed my life radically,right?
So you just have to take thosekind of leaps in life.
And it all depends on where youare and what you want to do and
what your vision is.

(55:22):
Um, you know, and so now myvision has changed
significantly.
I love living in Nashville.
I can't believe the relationshipI have with my wife and the
family I've created and all ofthose things, but I'm always
looking to level up.
So, you know, that's what Iwould encourage people to do is
like think of the five thingsthat if you could do, nothing in
the way, what would that be?
And then think of the one thingthat could help you move towards

(55:45):
those five things.
I mean, listen, and then nothinggets in the way.
I was driving to Costa Rica fromArlington, Virginia on my Toyota
Forerunner, and I was driving,and at some point there was a
military coup in Honduras.
I heard on the radio or thenews, well, you had to drive
through Honduras to get to CostaRica.
And I was like, oh man.
So I called my friend at theState Department.

(56:06):
He said, We don't know what'sgoing on down there.
I wouldn't recommend drivingthrough.
Well, my goal wasn't to drivethere, it was to get there.
So I ended up parking my ToyotaForerunner at a friend's house
in Austin and flew down andbought a Nissan Pathfinder down
there.
Like, once you have that in yoursight, you're in your site.
I got involved with anon-denominational church down
there, got involved with uh thehands and feet ministry, and it

(56:28):
just changed my life forever.
So, you know, and you couldlearn Spanish anywhere, but
immersion's the best, right?
So I became a fluent Spanishspeaker, and it's like one of
the greatest adventures of mylife, you know?
And so, like, but this goes foranything.
Like, this is why I was sayinglike concussion transformation,
overcoming the number one silentsecret killer of relationships,
careers, and lives, and thengoing out and serving people,

(56:50):
you know, coming on podcastslike this to spread the good
news about, hey, here's what'spossible.
Yes, I know you might besuffering, or you might have a
family member who's suffering.
Here's how we can help themheal.

SPEAKER_00 (57:02):
Yeah.
Wow.
So what's next with for for you?
What is your next big thing?

SPEAKER_01 (57:06):
Well, you know, I started a company about a year
and a half ago with a former FBIsupervisor agent called Stealth
Family.
So uh, you know, we're dealingwith the cyber threat for
families, high net worthindividuals, family offices,
financial advisors.
Uh, you know, how do you protectyour most important asset, your
family?
Uh, you know, the cyber threatis ever changing, ever looming,

(57:27):
and it's pretty wild.
You know, it's no longerstranger danger.
We all carry around thesedevices in our pocket, which
gives anyone all over the worldaccess to us, or our kids, or
our aging parents, you know.
So that's been my latest projectand working on a couple things
in AI.
And I have another book that isjust about finished, uh, and
it's called Captivate His Soul.
And the subtitle there isDiscovering the One Simple

(57:49):
Phrase That Will Make Any ManYours Forever.
It's for women.
Okay.
Yeah.
And it's about uh, you know,it's about it's kind of a
treatise on uh on femininity,you know, and like and
masculinity, like how to accessfemininity because Western
culture uh has kind of destroyedit, you know, and masculinity as
well.
So uh and and my premise thereis femininity is the most

(58:11):
powerful force in the universe.
Like use it, you know.
I've got a couple projects inthe works, you know, and and so
but my greatest project now isbeing a father to my little guy
who's about two and a half, andthat's been just a pure joy.

SPEAKER_00 (58:25):
Awesome.
Awesome.
Well, it has been such apleasure to talk to you and to
get to hear your story more.
And uh I I know people willreally benefit from being able
to see what somebody can do interms of transforming their life
after going from being angry andcompletely feeling emotionally
out of control to the level ofintention that you bring to your

(58:48):
life today.
So thank you for sharing.

SPEAKER_01 (58:50):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Hopefully, this has made a bigimpact for uh for your audience.
So thank you, Ayla.
And thank you for what you'redoing.

SPEAKER_00 (58:57):
You're welcome.
All right, have a great day.

SPEAKER_01 (59:00):
You too.
Bye-bye.

SPEAKER_00 (59:04):
Medical disclaimer.
This video or podcast is forgeneral informational purposes
only and does not constitute thepractice of medicine or other
professional healthcareservices, including the giving
of medical advice.
No doctor-patient relationshipis formed.
The use of this information andmaterials included is at the

(59:25):
user's own risk.
The content of this video orpodcast is not intended to be a
substitute for medical advice,diagnosis, or treatment, and
consumers of this informationshould seek the advice of a
medical professional for any andall health related issues.
A link to our full medicaldisclaimer is available in the
notes.

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Transformation is the Therapy: Rewriting Life After Concussion with Kevin Donahue | E39

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Transformation is the Therapy: Rewriting Life After Concussion with Kevin Donahue | E39